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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1999)
Presents Texas Aggie Baseball's 25$ Sausage Dog Night Tonight vs. Sam Houston 7pm Sates Open at 5:30 Co-hosted by ARA certain limits will apply on purchases and number available ENGL 210 Credit by Exam The English Department is offering credit for English 210 : Scientific and Technical Writing based on a portfolio of documents you write over the course of the semester and an impromptu writing exam. Registration (Blocker 224): May 5 ■- 6; May 31 - June 2 Portfolio Development: May 31 - July 27 Impromptu Writing Exam: August 3-4 Students with work experience or who will be taking writing-intensive courses are especially encouraged to apply. Students graduating in August may not apply. See our web site or come by Blocker 224 for more information. English Department - Writing Programs Office 845-9936 http://www.english.tamu.edu/wprograms/credit210.html Why wait? Get started early with Kaplan. Enroll today and you’ll receive your MCAT review books right away, so you can prepare now. Get a jump on the competition by starting before classes begin! MCAT classes begin May 15th DAT classes begin June 8th 1 -800-KAP-TEST www.kaplan.com The World Leader in Test Prep Page 8 • Tuesday, April 27, 1999 N ATION ie Ball a Snappy comeback ! • •• - » *7- ' -• • ■%*'" • ? * ' mm o. ' *• i • •• < ’ •* -t.'t * i * •. •' * , • , . >'T • - S .' . ^ ' • ' ' - ■ - • . GUY ROGERS' An unidentified rescuer saves an alligator snapping turtle on West Campus after heavy rains Monday. Legend has it that one- snapping turtle, the largest freshwater turtle in the world, bites down, it will not let go until it hears thunder. Battling the bulge Xenical, new fat-absorbing drug, receives FDAappn WASHINGTON (AP) — The government approved a long- awaited pill Monday that sounds like a dieter’s dream: It blocks the body from absorbing almost a third of the fat a person eats. Xenical is supposed to be only for obese people on strict diets. Indeed, popping the pill before a big greasy cheeseburger and fries is almost certain to cause un pleasant side effects as the left over fat exits the body. But Xenical is the first-ever diet drug that works in the gut instead of targeting the brain to suppress appetite. So scientists expect that, gas trointestinal discomfort aside, it should be a safe drug — unlike two popular appetite suppres sants that had to be banned in 1997. Consequently, doctors are bracing for demand from people seeking a magic elixir for weight loss. “This drug is not a magic bul let,’’ stressed Dr. Steven Heyms- feld of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hos pital in New York, who helped research Xenical. “We don’t want it used just casually by itself with out any diet, or just for cosmetic weight loss.’’ Xenical, known chemically as orlistat, blocks intestinal en zymes. So instead of being stored on people’s hips, 30 percent of the fat they eat passes straight to the colon for excretion. In studies, adding Xenical to a diet let people lose about 7 1/2 pounds more in a year than the diet alone, the Food and Drug Ad ministration said Monday. Because of the way it works, Xenical can cause intestinal cramping, oily spotting, gas, fecal urgency and oily or loose stools. Some 27 percent of Xenical users had at least one episode, al though the side effects tend to wane the longer people take the drug. The more fat eaten, the more side effects — thus, the FDA rec ommended that Xenical users get no more than 30 percent of their daily calories from fat, something they can calculate by reading food labels. Xenical also decreases absorp tion of the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, so users should take supplements two hours before or after swallowing Xenical. Dieters take one Xenical cap sule with each main meal, up to three daily. Manufacturer Hoff- man-La Roche said the prescrip tion-only drug will be available within two weeks, at a wholesale price of $1.10 per pill. Xenical was long-awaited by obesity experts, who say they need new alternatives after the ill- fated Redux and the fenfluramine half of “fen-phen’’ were banned in 1997 for causing heart damage. Those drugs had been wildly popular; many people even bought them on the Internet with out ever seeing a doctor, some thing specialists say is dangerous. Only two other prescription weight-loss drugs are sold in this country. Doctors expect many dieters will begin taking Xenical together Fat blocker The Food and Drug Administration approved the first medica::j blocks the absorption of almost a third of fat eaten. A lookatf*! and effects of orlistat. the chemical name of the drug: NORMAL FAT ABSORPTION □ Food from stomach enters Q the small intestine FATABSl WITH0 : : □ TRIGLYCERIDE Enzyme lipase binds to surface of triglyceride, a fat, and breaks it down □ Byproducts of breakdown bind with bile and form micelles that are absorbed as fat MONO . . GLYCERIDE7* I .-FATTY ACID MICELLE rone with those appetite suppressants in hopes of greater weight loss. But the FDA warned that no one has studied the safety of mixing those drugs, and Roche said it has no plans to do so. The FDA delayed Xenical’s ap proval by almost two years be cause of a perplexing concern: in studies of over 1,000 patients, 12 Xenical users came down with breast cancer, vs. just 2 women given a dummy pill. The FDA ordered Roche to re- ' DENY! L ire Sum ves he c imem o Denver fcirmed r filigfo! INTFl n 111 ini Nt J>blemst fine. ” The u: ped all new n kith study the issue. In January, 8,000 women tested'D 08 -Oh showed just one caseTcmble cancer in a Xenical pa 311,1 d a; five in women who had placebos. -U requu That proved theoriga^wlei some cases weremereh ^ a( |y dt cal fluke and “makesusF Sund able that this drug is ^ he term way promoting breasiwn 0 w said FDA chief medicalf * a n 'lic Dr. Eric Coleman. College Station Utility Customer Services We’re Moving! FM.2818 Waimart □ Police Department m Texas Ave. ICentrall Utility Customer par* ] Services City Cemetery Kronok Tap Rood Southwest Parkway Our new site opens June 21,1999 The new address is 310 KrenekTap Road 764-3535 www.ci.college-station.tx.us id. “We ’l in an} ss. r efet The College of Liberal Arts ne vhe congratulates the following liberg arts students on their induction Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society Matt Allen History Troy Allen Political Science Katherine DeWitt Psychology Vanessa Flores Political Science Kim Gossett English Literature Anne M. Hoar Speech Communid Brandy Hunt Political Science Elizabeth Koch Political Science Lisa Noelle Nothen English Andrew C. Perrone Economics Aaron Reese Economics Bryan N. Sutcliffe History Kathie Thoroughman History Aaron Tilley Political Science hind us Treno lappy ti In Mon > doubt, “Absoh k s Pape 1 saying 8 what I H ser Roi HOUS" ad 26 ! °uston uilt a bi Pnot lo ln 8 a t itg str P'80 vi 10 noun peles ftf day i f T he L heir thii ail:i e anc ea st 20 p 'Dd Hoc
